| Generated by Google Gemini Pro text-to-video AI software, powered by Veo 3 |
Name a holiday; any holiday. Go on, I’ll wait. What did you pick? Now imagine
what it’s like to celebrate that holiday. Now, go to Holidome, and you’ll find
it there. Ramadan, Diwali, Carnival. It’s around here somewhere. They each
live in their own little sectors, but there are some that are a little more
spread out. Traditional Christmas in one region of Earth was observed in very
different ways than in others, so those are separate. That way, you can be
immersed in the version that you’re looking for. Honestly, I’m probably the
wrong person to ask about any of this. Not only am I very young, but I was
born on Castlebourne. I’m actually kind of a rarity so far. The majority of
people who come aren’t here to plan families. They’re here to have fun, so
they either come with their families, or they’re putting off procreating until
later. My family has a long history of recognizing and appreciating other
cultures, so that’s what they came here to do. A lot of that culture is gone
from Earth. It wasn’t really anybody’s fault, it just sort of happened.
Architecture converged into those megastructure arcologies. Creativity and
identity made way for standardization and cross-compatibility. Why design a
bunch of oddly-shaped trashcans, when you can design one model, and anyone who
needs it knows that that one is perfect for their space, because everyone’s
space is pretty much the same? These may seem like small things, and hardly
relevant, but they’ve added up to major changes. It doesn’t matter where
you’re from, or where your family is from. Your housing unit looks the same.
You can decorate it, sure, but when we all live in virtual simulations, what’s
the point? You might think, well doesn’t the culture just live on the servers?
They can, but it can get drowned out by boundless imagination.
In this world, people fart rainbows. Yeah, that’s fun, but there’s no
history behind it. I suppose one day, we could end up living next to a
community of Rainbow Farters of Erbikejifel, or some shit, but for now, it’s
mostly only about novelty. Castlebourne doesn’t work like that. It exists in
base reality, and it all has to fit within the limits of physics. You may be
nostalgic for the days when you lit the Menorah with your family every year,
or maybe you never did it, and you want to learn what it was like. I do get a
little worried about cultural appropriation. People seem to think it’s a
non-issue since—like I’ve been complaining about—those traditions have largely
faded from real life—but I would just like to warn everyone to use caution.
Those rituals held and hold great meaning to those who practice(d) them. It’s
important that you be mindful of that, and stay respectful of why they
participated in them. Nothing was arbitrary. I’m not trying to get you to not
have any fun. Holi is a grand old time, for instance. Just don’t forget to
learn about how it started, and who originally took part in such traditions.
They didn’t just do it for your amusement. Except for Festivus. That really is
just for fun.
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